Kansas State is heading to Colorado in a rough spot at quarterback.
Avery Johnson has been ruled out for Saturday’s game against the Buffaloes, and backup Jacob Knuth is doubtful, putting the Wildcats on track to start their third different quarterback in as many weeks.
K-State and Colorado are set for Saturday, Oct. 31, at 1 p.m. CT at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado. The game will air on TNT.
Johnson sat out for the first time in his three seasons as a starter during last weekend’s 28-17 loss at Arizona State. Wildcats coach Collin Klein declined to get into the specifics of Johnson’s injury, saying he wanted to respect his privacy.
The issue traces back to the first quarter of Kansas State’s Oct. 17 win over Kansas, when Johnson went down after finishing a 59-yard run. He stayed down briefly, got up slowly and missed one play, but he laughed on the sideline and returned to finish the game without any obvious trouble.
Knuth’s situation is tied to the Arizona State game, where he rolled his ankle twice. Klein said Monday that he gritted through it to get to the finish. Knuth completed 26 of 41 passes for 194 yards and a touchdown, and he added 19 rushing yards and another score.
If both Johnson and Knuth can’t go, Kansas State’s options appear to be Blake Barnett or Dillon Duff.
Barnett entered the season as the likely No. 2 quarterback, but he spent several weeks on crutches after appearing in garbage time during a Week 1 win over Nicholls. He was not immediately ruled out last week and ended up being a game-time decision.
Duff, a sophomore, has also been banged up all year. He didn’t dress for games early in the season because of a preseason injury, and he only recently came off the team’s weekly availability reports. Klein said he was still questioning up until mid-last week whether Duff would even be available against Arizona State.
Kansas State will post availability reports Thursday and Friday night, plus one more 90 minutes before kickoff in Boulder.
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